A Blessing Turned Curse, A Curse Turned Blessing
by 2tsukiakari112
Summary: Natsume went about his day as usual. Wary of the new Youkai curse on him, though not entirely surprised, he planned to figure out how to deal with it. He'd asked Madara, but as usual, he wasn't there when he oh-so-terribly needed him. Except, as fate would have it, the curse didn't wait for him to figure it out before it started screwing with him.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** In no way nor form is Natsume Yuujinchou my own. Neither is the original idea for this fanfiction. That comes from the fiction A Youkai's Blessing by CitrusShinigami.

 **Warning:** Includes non-consensual _acts_ and yaoi. Don't like, don't read. I won't go into depth on any arc in the series, so if you know all the major players and don't really care about any smaller ones I may include, read onward.

 **Prologue:**

The night was silent, and peaceful. A mysterious calm set upon Natsume, something that doesn't happen often. Shaking off the ominous feeling of experiencing the calm before the storm, he closed his window. The air wasn't rigidly cold, but he didn't want to wake up with a sore throat, or more likely, an infestation.

Slightly grimacing at the thought, he quickly turned off his room's lights and got into his futon. Situating himself, he fell into a restful state, knowing Nyanko-sensei was there by his side to keep him from harm, should he need his protection. Perhaps more in it for the protection of the Book of Friends, rather than the protection of the human that came along with it, it nonetheless reassured Natsume. At the very least, he wouldn't have to worry about the youkai whose names he still had yet to return upon his death.

Reaching for the familiar cat shaped youkai, he ran his hand through the creature's soft fur. Normally, the action would be much to its distaste and it would recoil from his touch, but as it was currently too far drunk to care, it simply purred and nuzzled into the comfort. Eyes softening at the oddly cat-like behavior, Natsume began to drift to sleep.

Just as Natsume's conscious truly and wholly gave way to rest, an ayakashi appeared at his doorstep. It seemed to hesitate on entering, maybe unable to or thinking better of its actions, and instead moved to drift under Natsume's window. Its body seemed to suddenly relax at reaching its final destination, and it closed its eyes.

Softly, it chanted words in a language far too old for any human to understand, yet somehow communicated the message perfectly, if any were to hear it.

 _A blessing turned curse to be released, need only one more vassal to disappear. With the sacrifice of this one, it shall be concluded, and with its end, its effect with it. I release you unto the youth, Natsume Takashi._

Upon the name being said, vibrant red, black, and white rose petals seemed to drift from its body, slowly making its way towards the closed window, floating upon a nonexistent wind. The petals, being of a spiritual manner, of course simply bypassed the window and alighted onto the sleeping figure of the teenage boy. Upon landing, the petals melted into light blue and silver, any traces of their previous colors disappearing. Seeming to gently yet surely merge with his skin, a small flash of soft blue light shone, casting the room in a subtle glow.

As the remnants of the transaction faded, so did the youkai. Seeming to be caught in a sudden gust of wind, though the night remained completely still, it disintegrated from the feet up. When all that remained was its upper torso and head, it briefly thought to the young man, to the boy it just cast its misery onto, a solemn good luck. Then, it vanished and was no more, with none the wiser for its presence, or lack thereof.

AN: I may or may not be continuing this, really just depends on what people would prefer to happen. Expect a chapter or two by the end of this weekend. If anyone has any ideas for a coupling or such, I'm open to suggestion.


	2. Chapter 1

Natsume groaned as he woke up to Touko-san's warning to get ready soon. He stretched slightly, and grabbed his clothes before heading to the bathroom to change. As he started towards the bathroom door, he noticed the window was open. Not naive enough to believe that perhaps he left it open before sleeping, he brainstormed hurriedly to prepare himself for whatever supernatural foe he was to face off against as the enemy of the day. _Please don't tell me some ayakashi cast something on me again. Come to think of it, Sensei was gone by the time I was up as well._ Natsume sighed at the thought of his rather useless guard; always disappearing when he actually needed protection. _Perhaps he just left it open on another dash for sake. Stupid cat._

Natsume started to strip in the bathroom, when the sight he was met with caused him to pause in shock. He warily looked at the odd spots decorating his body. Left in a state of befuddlement, he dropped his shirt. Quickly gathering himself again, he examined the discolored skin closer in the mirror. _If I didn't know better, I'd swear it's just a tattoo of flowers._ Sprinkles of light blue flowers covered his chest, getting more common and clustered as they got closer to his pelvic region. Stretching slightly, he saw the same occurrence on his back, even on his legs. _Permanent supernatural skin coloring, just what I wanted to start off the day fresh._

Barely refraining himself from letting loose what would most certainly be a mixture of a groan and a sigh, he gave himself a mental pat on the back and decided to deliberately ignore the markings. _Ayakashi or no ayakashi, I still have to go to school like every other day._ Natsume redressed himself in his school uniform, rushed through the rest of his morning activities, then headed downstairs, preparing himself for another ayakashi filled day.

Thankful that the odd flowers didn't extend to anywhere that would be too difficult to hide, he came downstairs. Noticing Shigeru-san was already sitting down, taking bites of the breakfast in between glances at the newspaper in his hand, he quickly rushed to the table and took his seat. Shigeru glanced up as Natsume took his place, eyes widening almost imperceptibly in shock before darting back to his newspaper.

"Itadakimasu," Natsume said, gripping his chopsticks in one hand and the bowl of rice in his other. He ate in a rush, feeling starved for some odd reason. Likely being related to the other odd event discovered only mere moments earlier. One mental sigh later, and his mind quickly strayed to the more immediate matters at hand: food. As he dug in with renewed vigor, he noticed odd looks from the man sitting across from him. Normally, the calm and compassionate older man was already engaged in a light-hearted conversation with him, but he had yet to really even acknowledge his presence at all.

Natsume being Natsume, he quickly scoured his mind for anything he might've done to upset the Fujiwaras recently. A brief, yet clear wave of fear ran through his mind. They must've figured out his more erratic behavior, and were going to kick him out, again, just like all the others. As quickly as it came, however, it went. He reassured himself with thoughts of how kind and patient the elderly couple have been to him. Even when he came home late, or sometimes never even made it home, how they greeted him with smiles or worried frowns. Never disgusted grimaces, annoyed clickings of the tongue, never flat out indifference. They were so different from all those who came before, so much more open-hearted and accepting. Not to say all those before were lacking of compassion or kindness, he was resolute in the fact that he has always been the problem, was always the problem.

After dismissing the initial fear, he decided some preemptive and proactive intervention was needed.

"Good morning, Shigeru-san."

Startled out of his seemingly intense focus on the newspaper, he looked a bit surprised at how Natsume had initiated the conversation. Nonetheless, not wanting to be rude, he quickly cleared his throat and made an effort to respond adequately.

"Good morning, Natsume. You look… Well-rested today."

"Yeah, I suppose I had a good sleep. Does it really show that much?" Natsume immediately caught on to the changes in his attitude. He spoke quieter, and it was as if he was visibly trying to contain himself, choosing his wordings carefully and focusing a bit too much on the left of Natsume, rather than directly looking him in the face.

"You certainly look quite different today. I'm guessing it's from sleep. That or you became noticeably more beautiful overnight."

That… That was certainly not the usual way any conversation with Shigeru-san went. Even he himself looked vaguely surprised and more than a bit embarrassed at what he'd unexpectedly revealed.

Coughing to cover up his mistake, he hurriedly attempted to alleviate the sudden awkward atmosphere. "Um. What I meant was that you look better today. Not as in beauty, though you certainly are, but in health. More so than usual. Which is good."

Still feeling vaguely embarrassed, he quickly refocused on the newspaper, currently lying neglected within his hands, intensely shutting out everything else. He retreated further upon realizing that he had once again, indirectly called Natsume beautiful. Perhaps, if Natsume was a woman, and if he was more open about accepting compliments, than this would not have such an uncomfortable affair. But alas, that was not how it was.

Natsume quickly realized that Shigeru-san didn't wish to engage in any further acts of conversation, and covering up his discomfort and disappointment, he rushed through breakfast.

The remaining time of the meal was spent in stagnant silence, even when Touko-san appeared to assist in brightening it up. Both him and Shigeru-san rushed out of the house, appearing very bothered by that day's events. Natsume more so, thoroughly convinced at this point that it had to have been due to the mysterious flowers imbedded in his skin.

While on his way to school, he couldn't help but be equally curious and anxious on the effect it would have on his classmates. Regardless, like any other day, he would still have to face it like nothing was wrong. And with any luck, nothing would be wrong.


End file.
